Collapsible floating structure such as a boat, pontoon, seaplane float, and temporary bridge



. N. STRAUSSLER COLLAPSIBLE FLOATING STRUCTURE SUCH AS A BOAT, PONTOON, SEAPLANE FLOAT, AND TEMPORARY BRIDGE Filed June 1926 atented Nov. 29, 1927.

UNITED STATES} PATENT orrlcs. A

NICHOLAS STBAUSSLER, OF PICCADILLY, ENGLAND.

COLLAPSIBLE FLOATING STRUCTURE SUCH AS A BOAT, PONTOON, SEAPLANE FLOAT,

AND TEMPORARY BRIDGE.

Application filed June 7, 1926, Serial No. 114,148, and in Great Britain December 18, 1925.

This invention relates to collapsible boats constructed principally of-material which is approximately rigid or approximately rigidly framed, but which has sufiicient flexibil- 5 ity to permit of its being bent or curved and flattened out again repeatedly, for example plywood,'thin metal, or a' structure com.

pounded of plywood and this metal.

A11 object of the-invention is to produce collapsible boat in which the whole of the peripheralsurface is permanently joined to gether so as to constitute practically a onepiece structure which canbe opened out, folded, and opened again as 'desiredwithout taking it to pieces or detaching any of the main constituent parts of the boat from each other.

A boat according to this invention com-- prises a floor consisting of two identical halves or panels hinged or flexibly connected so that they can be folded against each other one straight longitudinal centre line, the said floor tapering towards each" end, and the tapering edge including a curved portion, with two continuous or substantially inte ral side walls (as distinguished from walls having joints transversely of their length) adapted to fold outside the said floor, the lower edges of which walls are flexibly connected with the outer curved edges of the floor and follow exactly the contour of the periphery of the floor throughout their entire length, so that when the walls are pulled apart sufliciently to cause the floor panels to flatten out into a horizontal plane position in their central parts, each end of the floor is thereby caused to rise in correspondence with the curve or inward bend to which the walls are then subjected at the ends of the boat.

The floor and sides are connected together by a flexible and waterproof material such as waxed or rubber coated canvas or webbing with or without the addition of hinges at intervals. The main portion of each side wall at its junction with the floor may be straight, with curves at each end and straight portions beyond the curves approaching the base of the opposite wall, this shape reducing the tension at the point or sharp end of the structure. Each side wall may be of any suitable height and shape so long as the curve of the lower edge thereof corresponds exactly with that of the outer 'edge of the adjacent panel of the floor.- For '5 apart sufficiently to cause the floor panels to flatten out into a horizontal plane'positiou n their central parts, while their ends rise 60 in unison.

' In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying diagrams illustrating by way of example several ways of carrying out the invention.

Figure 1 represents in elevation a boat embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is a plan of the said boat in po-- sition for use. i v Figure 3 is a side elevation of a boat of a modified shape.

Figure 4 represents in central cross section a boat folded. -7 A indicates the floor and B, B the walls or sides of the structure. The joints between the floor and the sidesare covered both on the inside and the outside of the boat by strips of flexible material, for instance thick Webbing, such strips being long enough to follow the contour of the side of the boat from end to end, the inner strip being indicated at l) and the outer strip at E; when assembling the parts of the .boat water roof as glue is injected between the strips an the wood to which they are to be attached, and the inner and outer strips are then stitched I together at F along the whole length of the jolnt between the walls and floor; they are W i apart when bent. The plywood may have inner and/or outer coatlngs of thin galva 1 nized steel or other metal. The free or upper edges of the sides B, B may be straight as represented in dotted lines in Figure 1 or may be convex as represented in full lines, or may be concave. The 'ointat F between the two halves is of a c aracter similar to that of the 'oint already described between the floor and sides. The walls B, B can be of any desired height; for example they may, as indicated in dotted lines in Fi ure 4, be of a height greater than the widt 1 of each half of the floor at their central portions, that is, midway of the length of the boat, this shape of the walls being suitable for use in the construction of a skiff or dinghy. In

opening out a boat thus constructed, the walls B and B are pulled apart, causing the floor boards to 0 en out with a pivotal movement about the oint at F, and at the same time lowering the said joint.

Cross stiffening partitions may either be hinged to the upper surface of the floor and erected when opening out the structure or may be hinged to one or both walls to lie each wal of the boat, so that by rotating the rods after such engagement has been effected the two walls can be slightly drawn towards each other.

I claim: a

In a folding boat, a floor consisting of two identically shaped panels connected to ether by flexible waterproof material and a apted to be folded against each other on a straight longitudinal centre line, said panels having their outer edges tapering towards each end, said tapering edges including curved portions. and two continuous substantially integral side walls the edges of which walls adjacent said floor follow exactly the contour of the periphery of the floor throughout their length, sai throughout their length with the floor by flexible waterproof material and adapted to be folded flat against the floor panels when said panels are folded against each other, all of said wall and floor members bein approximately rigid but possessing su cient flexibility to enable each wall w en erected to bend inwardly at each end and each fioor panel to rise to a corresponding extent at each end when the two floor panels are opened out into ali nment with each other, the whole periphera surface of the boat thus being permanently joined together to constitute practically a one-piece structure which can be opened out, folded, and opened again as desired without detaching any of the main constituent parts of the boat from each other.

NICHOLAS STRAUSSLER.

walls being connected 

